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Passover, a seven-day observance that begins at sundown Monday, April 14, is a distinctively Jewish holiday, rooted in the biblical story of the Exodus — one of the most powerful and gripping accounts in all of the Bible.

For the 3,500 or so years since Moses demanded Pharaoh to “let my people go,” Jews have commemorated their ancestors’ flight to freedom from their Egyptian oppressors each spring around this time.

Special services, Seder dinners and even house-cleaning are all practiced as part of Passover observances.

Yet it may come as a surprise that Passover observances in Israel — home to the Jewish religion — often are more secular in nature than those in the United States.

Yahav Barnea, 29, the Israeli emissary for the Greater Kansas City Jewish Federation, said this is particularly true of Jews who live on a kibbutz, a communal arrangement based on socialist principles.

“It is a big commune,” Barnea said of a kibbutz, “but not in a hippie kind of way.”

There are an estimated 270 kibbutzim in Israel at this time, the first of which sprang up about 110 years ago with a focus on agriculture.

Many who live on kibbutzim are “secular Jews,” Barnea said, meaning “they’re not observant” in terms of religion.

A lot of times, she said, those on a kibbutz take out the more religious parts of Jewish history in celebrations. Passover observances on the kibbutz, for instance, commonly are focused on the ideals of freedom and family, or celebrations of springtime, as opposed to the retelling of the Exodus account from the Bible.

Barnea said she has noticed a stronger religious tie to Passover observances in the United States since she arrived here this past summer, with Jews participating in Seder dinners in their homes and utilizing the Haggadah — or a book retelling the Passover story — on the special occasions.

Another difference in the Passover observance between Israel and the United States is the number of days the Seder meal is held.

“Here, Passover Seders are celebrated two nights in a row,” Barnea said. “In Israel, we only celebrate one night of the Passover Seder.”

Barnea said the reason for the extra night of Passover Seders in the United States comes from the fact that the holiday is based on the lunar calendar. As such, it was difficult to nail down the precise date for Passover.

“So they celebrate two nights in a row here to make sure they get it right,” she said, “which is an interesting concept.”

Barnea said there are many observant Jews in Israel who focus on the religious components of Passover.

She also said she was looking forward to attending her first Seder dinners this coming week in the United States.